


Determination

by SociallyAwkwardFox (Maze_Runner_Fae)



Series: YOI Week 2017 [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Character Development, Character Study, Determination, Ice Skating, Loneliness, Love, M/M, Making History, No Dialogue, Pivotal Moments, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 23:15:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9263006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maze_Runner_Fae/pseuds/SociallyAwkwardFox
Summary: A look at life through the eyes of Otabek Altin from his first love to his last love and all the trials between.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Option D. I’d say it’s also Option A because Otabek is one of my favorite characters, but I have so many favorites characters. How am I supposed to pick just one? So difficult. Also, no dialogue returns. Enjoy!

He remembers the first time he fell in love.

It’s an exhilarating feeling. His heart races in his chest so frantically he thinks, for the briefest moment, it might pop right out. Even at his age, he’s not prone to exaggeration, but this feeling is practically indescribable. It starts in his chest and radiates out to the tips of his fingers and toes. A warm sensation that keeps away the biting cold of the ice. No matter how many times he falls, he keeps wanting to get back up and try again.

When he tells his mother of his discovery, she gives him a soft smile and promises to sign him up for proper lessons soon. It’s more than his father or his older brother have to offer. His father gives a tight-lipped smile, but doesn’t say anything and his brother snickers under his breath. Others might have folded under the obvious pressure, Otabek takes it as a challenge. With a steadfast determination, he dives into a world of ice and grace and beauty.

After a few weeks of searching, his mom gets him a coach that’s competent enough to teach him the basics. He trains hard to learn everything he can as quickly as he can. Some of the other skaters look up to him for his dedication, while others sneer and try to trip him up on and off the ice. He does his best to ignore them, but it gets harder when a few of the teens watching start to join in. The few friends he does make, laugh at him whenever he mentions competing on the same level as the famous skaters they watch on the crappy television during breaks.

Off the ice, he feels like an outsider. No one believes he can be Kazakhstan’s first competitive male figure skater. It’s never been done and believing he’ll change that is simply a childish dream. Nothing more. Even his coach doubts he can reach the level he would need to keep up with the skaters from countries like Russia where figure skating is well-established. He doesn’t have the resources they do. It can’t be done.

None of that stops him. He pushes through the negativity and trains harder than anyone else out on the ice. When he reaches the point he no longer feels he’s improving, he tells his mother and begins the search for a new coach. Someone who will guide him through the next stage of his skating career. One where he actually competes against other skaters his age. It’s the logical next step in his plan to be a figure skater. One that needs to happen, if he wants to reach the professional level someday.

His next coach doesn’t believe in him any more than his previous coach, but they teach him more complex skills and take him to competitions. Compared to the other skaters in his country, he’s miles ahead of them. It’s easy for him to win, but he makes sure not to let it go to his head. Who he competes against now are nothing compared to the Victor Nikiforov’s of the world. The kinds of skaters he’ll be going up against in the junior division.

After competing in a few competitions with skaters from other countries, he feels the inadequacy of his training becoming an issue. With his introduction into the junior division looming, he knows he has to do something about this now or he’ll never make it further. When he brings it up to his mom, she says the best she can offer is sending him to a Russian summer camp in St. Petersburg. It’s a summer camp hosted by one of the best and more renown coaches in the world: Yakov Feltsman. If Otabek was a more emotional child, it probably would have sent him into tears. Instead, he immediately goes to pack and mentally prepares himself for what will most certainly be a gruelling summer.

The camp ends up being simultaneously the best and worst experience of his life. Day one he finds he’s not skilled enough to keep up with the junior level skaters, so he ends up in the novice class. He’s nowhere near as flexible as the others in the ballet class he’s in, but he sees someone that changes his perspective. It’s a moment he knows he’ll remember for the rest of his life. A moment of clarity and assurance that he can do this.

The boy has blonde hair, so blond it looks nearly white in the light filtering through the tinted windows of the studio. His technique is flawless. Leg extended all the way back, back perfectly straight, head held high, toes pointed. None of that compares to the look in his eyes. The undeniable look of a soldier. The look of someone determined to do whatever necessary to get what they want. Willing to fight whatever battle or climb whatever mountain needed to achieve their goal.

It’s inspirational to see and makes him re-evaluate the way he’s been doing things. Since he first started his quest to become a figure skater, he’s attempted to emulate the great skaters from the past and present. He based his training around the abilities of others, instead of focusing on perfecting the things he excelled at. Despite the desire to pave the way for other figure skaters in his country, he had based his training around following the paths of others. If he was going to compete with the best, he would need to be the best at what he could do and let that be what made him stand out from the others.

His spends the rest of the camp with his new mindset guiding him and plans how he will bring up his new ideas to his mom. He never speaks to the boy that changed everything, but he finds himself watching him whenever he can and vows to speak to him one day. One day, when he’s proven himself. A day when they both appear on the same stage together because he knows that day will come. With determination like that, there’s no way they won’t meet again.

As soon as he returns home, he explains to his mom his new-found outlook on figure skating. She becomes concerned when he mentions going to the United States and Canada to train, but agrees to let him with some stipulations. He must keep up with his studies and he’s responsible for paying half of whatever funds he needs to live, eat, and skate. Without hesitating, he agrees to her terms and starts looking into programs that’ll will help him reach his goals.

In America, he develops his own style. It’s not the beautiful and graceful style most skaters have. It’s more powerful and forceful. There’s obvious intent behind every move he makes and while it’s different from the majority, the judges seem to enjoy his performances well enough. He begins to do well in junior division competitions and makes it to his first Grand Prix Final. He doesn’t medal, but does respectably well for a first timer in fourth place with a score close to the bronze medalist.

The next season, he spends a majority of his time in Canada. During that time, he perfects his jumps and step sequences. He learns how to maximize his score with the things he has the ability to do and picks up a few more tricks that give him more points than what he could receive before. It’s enough to get him golds in both the cups he participates in and a silver in the Grand Prix Final. He’s grateful to his rink mates and coaches, but knows he has to move on. At the end of the season, he packs his bags once again and heads to Italy.

Italy is where he learns to develop his own programs and create his own music. Before, his rink mates and coach would help him create his programs and cut the music he used. That all changes in Italy. The others still offer to help him when he needs it, but most of the responsibility is put onto him. It makes the season more difficult than any of his previous, but more rewarding when he ends up getting at gold medal at the Grand Prix Final. With multiple golds under his belt, he makes his move into the senior division the following year.

His first year in the senior division, he lives in Switzerland and shares a rink with the well-known skater Christophe Giacometti. The man is every bit as eccentric as he’s been lead to believe, but he occasionally offers useful advice when Christophe sees him struggling to master a complex move. He’s more tolerable than most of the rink mates he’s had in the past and despite his outgoing nature, Christophe leaves him alone most of the time. Overall, it’s a good first season in the senior division.

Everything he’s been working so hard for, comes to fruition in the following season. It’s not gold, but he becomes the first person from Kazakhstan to stand on the podium at the highest level of men’s figure skating. He feels honored to stand on the podium with Victor Nikiforov and Christophe Giacometti and determined to return home at the end of the season. Despite how instrumental living abroad has been to developing into the skater he is now, he’s desperate to return to his home.

He misses his mom. Video chatting and phone calls just aren’t the same as being able to see someone in person. It’s something that has weighed heavily on him since he left for the United States all those years ago, but he doesn’t regret a moment. He did what he had to to make his country proud and prove to everyone he did have the talent to compete with the best.

Even though it seems childish, the first thing he wants to do when he sees her again is hug her. For once, he wants to indulge. He wants to let himself have something that isn’t more training or pushing his body to his limits. He wants to feel something other than pain, determination, and fleeting happiness. Most would probably find it a simple wish, but his dreams have been so high having one so simple is a relief.

His wish is granted the second he makes it out of the airport. Despite the fact he’s now taller than her, his mom pulls him into a tight hug. It’s a bruising grip that barely allows him to breath, but he doesn’t complain. He got exactly what he wanted without even having to ask. When she finally pulls away, she brushes a few stray hairs out of his face and goes on about how handsome he is now. For the first time in years, he feels at home.

Returning to Almaty doesn’t make things any easier. He still rarely sees his family because of his rigorous training schedule and he no longer has any rink mates to push him. It’s lonelier than ever, but it doesn’t lessen his resolve. He’s worked too hard to give up now and unless he gets an injury, he still has quite a few years left to get gold in all the major competitions. So, he pushes himself harder than ever and makes it to the Grand Prix Final again.

This year ends up being different than any other. Just as he expected, the boy from Russia (the one he now knows to be one Yuri Plisetsky) is competing as well. He’s the youngest at the age of fifteen, but he still has the undeniable eyes of a soldier. He’s grown into a confident young man and he knows Yuri will be a worthy competitor, just like all the others. His age means nothing. He is just as dangerous as the others. Possibly more so.

Admittedly, the first meeting is disappointing. He declines Jean-Jacques Leroy’s offer to join them for lunch. He knows it’ll be an uncomfortable affair for him if he does. When his eyes land on Yuri, the younger man is surprised. His eyes go wide and his mouth drops open in shock, but his words come out harsh and biting. Yuri calls him an asshole, so he turns to leave the hotel like he had been planning to do from the beginning.

Things go smoother during their second meeting. It’s not under the best circumstances, he feels bad for the wild way Yuri’s fans act, but it gives them a chance to talk. He’s not surprised when Yuri doesn’t remember him. What would be memorable about a young teen so far behind, he had to spend the summer in the novice classes? They still come away friends and he ends up having one of the best nights he’s had in a long time.

Unlike the previous year, he doesn’t end up on the podium. However, he gets the honor of cheering on his new friend as he makes history becoming the youngest to ever win the men’s Grand Prix Final. It’s by the slightest of margins, but that doesn’t matter to Yuri. There’s so much joy in his eyes when he receives his scores, there’s no denying it means the world to him. Yuri accepts the bouquet of flowers he gives him along with the stuffed tiger plush, then sobs into his shirt about the pig having no reason to quit. It doesn’t make sense to him, but he still rubs Yuri’s back and wipes his tears when he finally pulls away.

Things change after the Grand Prix. He finds himself texting, video chatting, and calling Yuri whenever they have free time that lines up. They talk about anything and everything with each other. Yuri complains about Victor and Yuuri and tells him about his grandpa and his cat sometimes interrupts their conversations to get attention. In turn, he speaks of his family and his hobbies and anything he thinks won’t bore his new friend. It’s a new experience and it takes some getting used to.

He loves every second of it.

The more he talks to Yuri, the more inspired by Yuri he gets. His programs become increasingly complicated and filled with immense emotions. Two years after they officially meet, he takes the gold at the Grand Prix with Yuri following close behind him to snatch up the silver. When he holds it up proudly for Yuri to see, the younger man rolls his eyes at him but still kisses the medal. It’s an unexpected move that he takes in stride and he tries not to laugh when Yuri says he really is the Hero of Kazakhstan.

That picture of them ends up splashed all over the internet in a matter of hours. People speculate about their relationship and begin to theorize about their private lives. When he returns to Kazakhstan, questions and congratulations for his Grand Prix win are numerous. They’re still interspersed with questions about Yuri and what this means for his future. He declines to answer any of them, but it leaves him questioning something he’s never considered before.

For the longest time, he had thought he merely looked up to the incredibly talented athlete. Now he wasn’t so sure. He has always thought Yuri was gorgeous, with his intense eyes and graceful form. Anyone would. There was no denying there was something about Yuri that made him stand out, no matter who he surrounded himself with. Yuri is powerful and strong and beautiful and perhaps there was something in the way he saw him.

It was watching Victor Nikiforov that shed light on the situation. During a trip to Russia, he watches the way Victor acts around and the things he says to Yuuri in public. It doesn’t take long for him to see himself in the older man. In Yuuri, he sees an incredible strength and beauty. Victor looks up to him and draws inspiration from him.  He believes in him. He loves him for everything he is and everything he isn’t.

He remembers the last time he fell in love, though he didn’t know it then.

He fell in love with the steely eyes of a soldier. The determination of someone that would succeed no matter the cost to them. The fearlessness of someone with everything to lose and everything to gain. The beauty of an ethereal being and strength of warrior.

He fell in love with Yuri Plisetsky without trying or knowing it. He found strength in that love and felt fearless the day he told him. Nearly cried from joy the first time they kissed and was sure he’d spend the rest of his life with him if Yuri let him. It was love that gave him strength and hope and faith in himself. It was love that made him strong. It was love that carried him to gold and the most important thing in his life: Yuri Plisetsky.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoy! Next one will be up tomorrow!


End file.
